RIGHT ROYAL VIC-TREE - as people power wins the day
LOONY LABOUR - showing their true environmental colours
GOB SWAB - DNA database success!
COPPER CAPERS - antics of the boys (and girls) in blue
NEWBURY NEWS - latest news from the camp @ proposed Newbury Bypass site
Party & Protest - those diary dates
After two months in peaceful occupation of threatened trees in Windsor Great Park, a major victory for people power was secured on Monday.
Originally an avenue of 300 year old oaks we're for the chop - because Crown Estates didn't like the way they looked! The trees are apparently not in a straight line, which met the disapproval of the Duke of Edinburgh. He wanted them cut down - a fine thought from the man who is Chief Ranger of Windsor Wild Park and President of the World Wide Fund for Nature! He would have been able to do this as he has feudal powers of Crown Immunity which mean that traditional protective measures didn't count.
However on August 7 a group of protesters occupied three of the ancient oaks on St Anne's Ride - the area due to be felled. Workers who turned up that day were prevented from carrying out their job, and instead settled for an extended tea break and a friendly exchange of cigarettes! There followed an upsurge in public support for the protest, which was backed by prominent local residents and conservationists. They argued that the oaks, together with some lime trees, also due for the chop, are valuable as a stable habitat for the complex and diverse wildlife communities that thrive there. One local retired doctor claimed that the Crown Commission talked "unbelievable twaddle to justify cutting down the trees." Apparently, even old big ears himself Prince Charming wasn't too happy with his old man's decision!
The Crown Estate launched a review and their decision was relayed in a press release this week on Monday. The 20 remaining oaks are to be saved, and 40 others are to be re-planted. Young oaks will be planted in the ride where 64 others had been felled. Campaigners and tree pixies alike were well chuffed! One of the pixies, Heather James, told SchNEWS: " This campaign shows the effectiveness of peaceful direct action by ordinary people. People who care enough about their environment to take a stance against destructive policies imposed for the sake of symmetry. Symmetry is a mathematical statement and has very little to do with nature, art, design or oak trees."
But the Royal Oak tribe added that they were unhappy that the Crown Estate have not given assurances about the number of lime trees that will be felled. They added that they would like to " seek confirmation from the Crown Estate that the trees will be allowed to live out their natural lives."
Nevertheless, this is a great victory for the direct action movement.
New Labour again showed their true colours on Wednesday when Labour controlled Glasgow City Council gave the go ahead for a ten lane motorway thru' the south side of the city .
Ignoring their own manifesto commitments to 'an integrated public transport policy',
councillors voted 9-4 in favour of the 4.8 mile road which will cost a staggering �250 million!
While Transport Secretary George Younger was telling the Conservative Conference "The key is not to build more roads but to make more intelligent use of the ones we have" Labour councillors congratulated themselves on 'a far sighted decision.... a bold decision in the absence of a clear Government transport policy' using the same old tired arguments for giving the motorway the thumbs up - arguments even the government's own Royal Commission have dismissed. Angry campaigners against No M74 told SchNEWS " The council has not only stabbed the people of Glasgow in the back - but also in the lungs, chest and throat. The labour councillors main concern seems to be promoting tourism and big business rather than the interests of the people ..... Tourists don't visit war zones. The M74 will be the biggest embarrassment this City administration will ever face. I f they want Glasgow to be on the European stage in 1999 they will have it - for all the wrong reasons. Instead the City of Architect it will be known as the City of agitators. The only overseas visitors this city will have will be environmental protestors and journalists who we are now calling on to join the largest Scottish land agitation since the eighteen century." contact tel 0141 424 1797
* Locals and conservationists currently fighting a proposed fifth terminal at Heathrow airport found out today that they can't count on the support of Labour leader Tony Blurgh and his cronies who are all in favour of the devastation and sleepless nights another terminal will bring
* National Asthma week .....one in seven kids in the country now have asthma helped by the lethal cocktail of chemicals cars belch out.
* In Manchester the new tram system (with a service every six minutes) has proved to be a winner. A survey has shown a 10 per cent reduction in traffic at peak times along its route. There are 13.5 million journeys a year and at optimum places where people live close to a tram stop, more than half say they use the tram in preference to their car.
* Brighton's Critical Mass seems to be getting right up the noses of the local constabulary. Last Saturdays bike ride attracted nearly 100 police including two surveillance units and a helicopter! Just how much was spent on harassing and videoing people whose only crime is to ask for car-free space and air we can breathe is anyones guess....
Britain's first database of DNA samples has "caught" its first crook! After only four months in operation too! Imagine the scene...Blood found at the site of an unsolved burglary in Derbyshire. Police take samples....and lo! They DNA patterns match the saliva of someone who'd been a suspect two months previously!....An arrest wass promised as soon as the suspect was found. The DNA database is run in Birmigham by the Forensic Science Services. It is now stocked with DNA samples of everyone who has been for an offense punishable by imprisonment. The police are so enthusiastic about the case it could mean that as anyone convicted of anything may end up having to give DNA samples - up to about five million people, or one in six adults. And for those of you who enjoy the safe feeling this engenders, check this out...Cardiff police were hunting the murder of a young girl they asked every male on a housing estate to volunteer for DNA testing. Anyone who refused was instantly considered a suspect, and therefore compulsorily tested under - yes, you've guessed it - the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, 1994.
Our boisterous police force have been getting a bit over-zealous this past week. One officer. thinking he was dealing with some scummy football fan, who had run onto the pitch after Watford.v.Bournemouth on Tuesday, truncheoned substitute striker Kevin Phillips as he ran on the pitch to congratulate his victiorious team ! More police who could possibly be accused of taking their powers a tad too far, broke up a birthday party in Devon a couple of weeks ago. Darren and Paula Richards had organised an outdoor barbecue and disco for Paula's 32nd birthday. There were possibly a hundred guests at the party, with entry being strictly by invitation only but Devon coppers thought it was a bit of a 'rave' and set up road blocks and threatened to confiscate sound equipment!
Not all the recent antics of the persons in blue have been entirely well-meaning. There's been a bit of anarchy in the ranks, with two Lancashire police women sent down for dealing E's, speed and weed to friends. Meanwhile Plymouth officers who were out racing their cop cars one night collided into each other and then to make matters worse, lied to their chief constable by making up an elaborate story about a car chase which resulted in their cars crashing. Needless to say, they were severely disciplined.
Nicholas Jeffries was sent down a week last Tuesday because of his part in the Poll Tax Insurrection - after five years on the run. He was extradited from Holland after Dutch Police arrested him for not paying his tram fare in January. A judge at the Old Bailey reduced his original three and a half year sentence after a police officer could not say for certain whether Jeffries had attacked his car with a scaffolding pole or a wooden post.
Jeffries was identified from photos and TV footage taken at the time of the event. He was charged with five attacks on police vehicles. He claimed he attended the demo with his pregnant girl friend but didn't want to start any trouble. He changed his mind, however, when he saw police driving a car into innocent bystanders. The judge passing sentence claimed that although this may have angered him, his behaviour was "totally and utterly unjustified."
The number of people jailed last year for non-payment of the Poll Tax number 1202. Defaulters still owe an estimated �1.5 billion, and councils reckon they will recover �420 million.
At 11 am on October 18th the people of Holts Field in Swansea are due to be evicted and have their homes demolished - apparently out of spite. The wooden chalets they live in , built before the war, are classified in law as mobile homes, even though they have never been moved. The landowner Tim Jones, has failed to get planning permission to build executive mansions on the site - but wants to trash the homes anyway.
A spokesperson for The Land Is Ours told SchNEWS "45 people live in Holts Field, ranging from a baby to an 80 year old women. many have been there for decades., There houses are tiny but beautifully built. The community is one of the last places in Britain which truly deserves that term - they all look after each other."
They have sworn to resist the evictions - but can't do it by themselves, especially as most of them have no experience of direct action. So please get down there from the 18th on wards - with D-locks and possibly climbing gear. 01792 234027/01792 233596
*** FREEDOM NETWORK the people who got the anti CJA ball rolling have a new phone number. *** 3 members of the Black Moon soundsystem, the first people in the country to be charged under the rave sections of the Criminal Justice Act (CJA) have had their case adjourned - again! Next date? tel 01298 27475 *** McDickheads have as good as admitted that their food is a danger to the public. They've given �750 to a bloke who was suing them because he burnt himself with a hot apple pie. *** Prison officers can now count themselves among one of the minorities discriminated against by the C.J.A. A spokesperson for Winchester Prison Officers Association said 'It has taken away our fundamental right to take industrial action'. 38 of the Act's 127 clauses are aimed at prison officers. Whether SchNEWS is shedding any tears for them is another matter... *** Richard Pursell, aka Fudge, got off court last week after being stitched up at the Reclaim The Streets action in July when the Met. Police cleared the streets at the end of a great car-free day by the usual methods. He was accused of swearing and taking a swing at a copper. Video evidence in the court showed however this was not the case Fudge told SchNEWS: "Keep fighting your cases, don't accept cautions and don't let them deter you from doing what you think is right " He's now suing the police *** How To Defend Yourself In Court by Michael Randle is for people who want to take control of their own cases. Available for �5.50 inc.p+p from The Civil Liberties Trust 21 Tabard St., London, SE1 4LA *** (Good SchNEWS, for once) Unwanted toasters, kettles, televisions and other domestic appliances will be recycled in an ambitious scheme starting last week among 10,000 homes in West Sussex *** Wealden councillors who lost the battle to evict travellers from a site in Crowborough are to lobby the government for reform of the CJA. Despite being designed to be 'tough on travellers' the councillors is having the opposite effect. After the historic High Court decision where the judge called the CJA 'Draconian and unlawful'(see SchNEWS 38 ) councils now have to interview all travellers on site to check what education, social services and housing needs they have. As one council officer commented ; "We feel the legislation is unworkable" Shame ***Another eight pieces of highly radioactive metal have been found scattered around the nuclear facility at Dournreay in Caithness. Workers were told about the radiation hot spots (now numbering 150!) and warned to keep well clear. Kind bosses have even offered to have staff homes swept for radiation! *** While the European Commission has been warned that it faces the sack unless it takes action in the European Court to half another French nuclear test in the South Pacific, Jacques Le Blanc, French ambassador to New Zealand, was busy buttering up journalists. He told New Zealand's National Press Club: "I do not like this word 'bomb'. It is not a bomb, it is a device which is exploding." (!)....eh?
On 16th November 1986, Satpal Ram went for a meal at the SkyBlue Restaurant in Birmingham. While he was eating a group of six whites began to racially abuse the staff and then attacked Satpal - one of the males stabbing him twice in the face and arms with a broken glass. After being stabbed he defended himself with a small knife (which he used at work to open packages) .
STUART EDWARDS PB1864 and JIM CHAMBERS PV2504 got 18 months a piece for the alleged damage to a road construction site. Stuart wrote to SchNEWS : "Thanks very much for all your support and mail, its great to get it. Jim gets out in about 8 weeks time, while I have 7 months to do."
In December 1994 animal rights activists KEITH MANN was jailed for 14 years. His crime? Possession of explosive substances under suspicious circumstances (common garden weed killer), incitement (allegedly writing animal rights literature), economic damage to meat vehicles (�6,000 worth of damage), and escaping from custody - after 20 months without a trial.
While out collecting for Brighton's Legal Defence and Monitoring Group at the Metropole Hotel.. Tins were confiscated (but not the cash) by a policeman who found the logo offensive!
* Following all the lovely lolly Justice? and Conscious Cinema got from the tour we have accounts available to show you all that we've not spent it all on beer. Send an SAE if you don't believe us.
experience is knowledge, everything else is information
RIGHT ROYAL VIC-TREE!
More and more people are realising that their future and the future of generations to come depends on how we act now.
Environmental destruction must be halted if there is to be any future at all!!!!
GOB SWAB!
Copper Capers
Newbury Bypass camp - possible eviction
SUPPORT NEEDED IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!! (01635) 521 770
SchNEWS IN BRIEF
0171 582 3474 (General) and 0171 793 7343 (Action line)
INSIDE SchNEWS
Satpal's attacker died after refusing medical treatment. During the trial, vital evidence from defence witnesses was not understood by the all-white jury as no interpreter was provided to translate Bengali! Most of the prosecution evidence against him came from the group that attacked.
Because of bad legal advice Satpal did not receive a fair trial , the jury never able to consider that he acted in self-defence. He has now spent over eight and a half years in prison. His appeal hearing will be his last chance for freedom and justice.
More info 0121 507 1618
Keith never hurt a fly, but his sentence was harsher than some people who commit murder.
There is a demonstration on 25th October outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand in London (nearest tube Holborn) 10 am and his appeal is on the 17th November.
If you want to help the Justice for Keith Mann Campaign write to 2 Mallard Lane, Birchwood, Warrington, WA3 6NZ.
Picket your local store
(leaflets �15 per 1,000 from Veggies, 180 Mansfield Rd., Nottingham,NG1 3HW).
Demonstrate 4.30 - 6.30 pm at McDonalds HQ, East Finchley High Road, London N2 (E.Finchley tube) 0171 713 1269
St.James Church, Piccadilly, London, W1 0181 455 1030
George Square, Glasgow 0141 226 5066
Colston Hall, Bristol, 01865 511297
Univ. of Central Lancashire 0171 281 0297
Called by London Greenpeace and the McLibel Support Campaign.
11 am - 8pm Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London, WC1 (Holborn tube)
Stalls, discussions,workshops,networking, vegan food, creche...0171 713 1269
Music + Street entertainment - bring a bright brolly!
@ Rocket, Holloway Rd., London, N7 8 pm - 6 am
Benefit for Wango Riley Travelling Stage and SQUALL magazine.
Astralasia, Children of the Bong, Immersion, Pain, Manumaya, Tofu Love Frogs, Citizen Fish, Back to the Planet, Pashm, Bellyvision, Doo the Moog, Tragik,....Joi, Liberator, Sunnyside , DiY, Indisfunction, Tribal Energy, Circosis DJs & soundsystems etc. etc. �9/�6 concessions...
Workshops-Speakers-Debates-Stalls-and anything else you want to see going on
If you've got any ideas, time, money.... then contact the office.
CRAP (not quite an) ARREST OF THE WEEK
CJA ARRESTOMETER
Hunt Saboteurs 154 Footie Fans 115 Road Protesters 84 Environmentalists 43 No Live Exports* 38 Peace Campaigners 35 Tree Defenders 14 Travellers# 11 Ravers 10 Illegal Gatherers 3 Druids 1 *1000+ animal rights activists nicked this year
#not including grief and harassment...and Finally
SchNews c/o on-the-fiddle, PO Box 2600 Brighton East SussexTel. 01273 685913
Or pick one up @ Peace Centre, Gardner Street, Brighton uk
Justice? meet every wednesday @ the the new kensington, kensington gardens, Brighton @ 7pm
e-mail: Justice?@intermedia.co.uk